MIIA grant helps communities protect first responders

Several Massachusetts communities turned to an innovative health screening program to help first responders stay healthy, both on and off the job.

The HeartStart and Onsite Full Metabolic Screening programs, both grant-funded and offered by the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association’s Health Benefits Trust, gave municipalities the tools to detect early signs of heart disease and metabolic conditions in their police and fire personnel, and to do so with a level of clinical depth far beyond what typical annual checkups provide.

MIIA partnered with Sigma Tactical Wellness to offer two levels of screening that provide advanced lipid and biomarker testing, personalized health consultations, and resources to support lifestyle changes. The full onsite option adds vascular imaging, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and detailed nutrition and metabolic analysis.

Results in Amesbury
In Amesbury, Police Chief Craig Bailey said the decision to apply for the grant was simple.

“There is nothing more important to me than the overall health of my department,” he said. “This program checked several boxes that would give individual employees a better overall picture of what their cardiac health looked like.”

To ensure buy-in, Bailey and his team worked from the ground up.

“Initially there were some reservations as some members were worried what would be done with the information received,” he said. “Individual heart health is a very private matter. We built trust and assured our members that the information was for them, and them only.”

Those assurances paid off.

“Everyone — and I mean everyone — was happy with services we received from SIGMA and MIIA,” Bailey said. “Although not all of us may have gotten the results we had planned for, we all looked at this as an opportunity to either maintain or … improve our heart health.”

One participant was Communication Coordinator Laura Kilgour, who has served on Amesbury’s MIIA Wellness Committee for a decade.

“This was a huge opportunity to get these men and women a look into their cardiovascular health that went above and beyond what their primary care might do on a regular check-up.”

While she was already on the way to improving her fitness, her results showed one abnormal marker — something her regular doctor hadn’t tested for — so she took action.

“I immediately changed my diet and prioritized working out,” she said.

Boxborough builds culture of wellness
In Boxborough, Police Chief John Szewczyk shared a similar motivation.

“It is common in the public safety community for personnel to work a tremendous number of hours and shifts, such as midnights, that are not conducive to a healthy lifestyle,” he said. “Accordingly, I felt it was imperative that we continually stress self-care and educate officers about ways they can become more knowledgeable about their personal health and wellness.”

Szewczyk noted the ease of the grant process and praised MIIA and Sigma for their responsiveness. While younger officers were harder to convince, he said peer support made a difference.

“It was important to have some of the older, experienced officers talk about their experiences and how health and wellness is paramount,” he said.

The outcome, he said, was a positive reception across the department.

“I think it’s important to remember that if we improve the health and wellness of even one employee, then participating in the program was a success,” Szewczyk said. “This is a terrific opportunity to improve the wellness of your department and also improve morale. There is no downside.”

Advice to others
Those who have implemented the program are united in their recommendation: go for it.

“Start the conversation now,” Bailey said. “Be honest and build trust so the team knows it’s about them, and their long-term health.”

Szewczyk called the grant process and implementation “relatively simple.”

Kilgour put it most plainly: “You can forfeit an hour of your life to possibly save your life, can’t you?”

For more about MIIA’s health and wellness programs, visit www.emiia.org/well-aware.

Written by Joyce McMahon